Yes in most states it's illegal to remove or reattach the VIN tag obviously because of car theft issues. Years ago I wanted to tag my 1959 Thunderbird in Kansas. It had not been tagged for about 15+ years and did not run and was sitting in my garage. That state required the car be inspected by the state police first. The cop that came out got all bent out of shape when he went to check the VIN and I said oh wait a minute and then handed the tag to to him.
I had removed it years ago when I painted the door jams. The car had been painted several times before that including the classic "Let's start spraying paint without any preparation" so the VIN tag had several layers of paint on it and I wanted to attempt to restore the tag before I reattached it. Found by soaking it in Ammonia for several days the paint softened up and came off without damaging the markings on the VIN tag.
Finally I told the cop if I was stealing a car and risking a felony conviction for car theft why would I steal something worth so little AND call the police to look at it? Why not steal an expensive and valuable car like a Corvette or something? He started mumbling about it's illegal to remove VIN tags and reattach them so he really should not approve the car. But I guess after looking at the situation he did realize there was no criminal intent and I got my registration.
Funny thing is that VIN tag is still loose and in the glove box of that old T-Bird! I need specific rivets and I think they are available but I have never got back to that project yet!
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I had removed it years ago when I painted the door jams. The car had been painted several times before that including the classic "Let's start spraying paint without any preparation" so the VIN tag had several layers of paint on it and I wanted to attempt to restore the tag before I reattached it. Found by soaking it in Ammonia for several days the paint softened up and came off without damaging the markings on the VIN tag.
Finally I told the cop if I was stealing a car and risking a felony conviction for car theft why would I steal something worth so little AND call the police to look at it? Why not steal an expensive and valuable car like a Corvette or something? He started mumbling about it's illegal to remove VIN tags and reattach them so he really should not approve the car. But I guess after looking at the situation he did realize there was no criminal intent and I got my registration.
Funny thing is that VIN tag is still loose and in the glove box of that old T-Bird! I need specific rivets and I think they are available but I have never got back to that project yet!
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